Former Golden Knights, Falcon produced for their squads, which all struggled at times this season.

Nick Gentili (St. Francis High, 2009) junior, Pomona-Pitzer baseball: Gentili put himself in the conversation as one of the best offensive players in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference this year, as he cracked the league's leader board in several statistics.

Gentili was named to the All-West Region second team by the American Baseball Coaches Assn. on June 4 after he posted a team-high .401 batting average (59 for 147) to go along with seven homers, 41 runs batted in and 55 runs scored.

It's the latest accolade in a season filled with them for the former Golden Knight, who was named to the conference's first team and Capital One Academic All-American's third team by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Gentili's runs scored and on-base percentage (.514) were conference highs this year. He placed second in slugging percentage (.707), doubles (16) and total bases (104) and was a standout in home runs (third), RBI (fourth), batting average (fourth) and hits (third, 59).

The Sagehens matched Gentili's strong performance this season, as they finished with a 25-12-1, 19-9 in conference.

Matt Quintero (St. Francis High, 2008) senior, San Francisco State baseball: The former Golden Knight received the Dr. Hal E. Charnofsky Award at the San Francisco State Student-Athlete Awards Banquet in May. The award is given to the Gators outstanding male and female student-athletes in a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. sport.

Quintero was also named to the 2011-12 Capital One Academic All-District VIII team, as the kinesiology major posted a 3.36 grade-point average and shined on the field with a .306 batting average (45 for 147) with three home runs, 13 doubles and 21 RBI in 43 games. The catcher also slugged .456 and posted a .363 on-base percentage for the Gators, who finished 17-33 and 14-26 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

Quintero's playing days aren't behind him, though, as he signed with the Arizona Centennials, an independent professional baseball team in the Freedom Baseball League.

Alyssa Sovereign (Crescenta Valley High, 2010) sophomore, Penn State softball: Sovereign became an everyday starter for Penn State in her sophomore campaign, as the right fielder started in all 50 games and slid into the No. 3 spot in the batting order.

The Nittany Lions struggled through the season, with an 18-32 record , 9-15 in the Big Ten. Sovereign finished the year with a team-high 153 at bats in which she put together a .209 batting average (32 for 153) and flashed a bit of power with a .320 slugging percentage.

The former Falcon slugged four home runs and five doubles, scored 21 times and drove in 17 runs. Sovereign was steady in the field, as she committed just one error on the year for a .981 fielding percentage.